Temple in Antes: description from photo

In Ancient Greece, the temple was the most important structure in policies. It served as the center of not only political, but also social life, and was also used to store the state treasury. One of the earliest types of sanctuaries was the distil (the temple in antah). Photo, history of the occurrence and description of the building you will find further in the article.

Features of Ancient Greek Religion

The development of Greek culture is closely connected with the formation of policies that appear at the beginning of the archaic period (750 BC). At this time, after long Dark Ages, art, religion and architecture "wake up", reached their apogee in the 5th - 4th centuries BC. E.

Religion occupies one of the most important places in the life of the population and has a direct impact on the worldview. Numerous myths tell of powerful, but imperfect, gods and heroes, nymphs and monsters.

In the representation of the Greeks, the power of the gods is not unlimited. Yet they are able to control some forces of nature and patronize people. At first they are worshiped on altars, which are later transferred to the temples. Intermediaries between people and gods are priests.

With the final formation of policies in ancient Greece, the tradition of worshiping the gods-patrons of a certain city is spreading. In their honor are built the largest and pompous temples. Much attention is paid to the decorative decoration of buildings. This leads to the appearance of an order system, which is transmitted even to Roman architecture.

Types of Greek temples

Temples in ancient Greece differed in appearance and size. Of course, everything depended on the development and importance of the cult of this or that god. Sometimes they were dedicated to heroes and were called heroes in that case.

Temples were the most important buildings, each detail of which, carried in itself not only aesthetic function, but also a semantic load. All the components of the building had clearly defined parameters and proportions. And the rules of their combination are dictated by the order system (Doric, Ionic or Corinthian).

There were several types of temples. Their main difference was in the number and principle of the arrangement of the columns. The most ancient type is a distil or a temple in antah. He had only two columns on the front facade. The following buildings complicated their constructions:

• Forgive - four columns at the main entrance;
• Double prosthel (amphiprostil) - porticoes with four columns on the front and rear facade;
• Peripter - is surrounded by a colonnade completely;
• Dipter - two rows of columns were placed on each side;
• Pseudodipter - one row of columns from the sides;
• Monopter - a building of round shape, surrounded by a number of columns.

All buildings, except the monopole, were rectangular in shape. They consisted of the main room - Naos or Cello. In the front part there was usually a canopy or an entrance hall. In the depths of the Naos there was an altar with a statue of a deity to whom the temple is dedicated. On the rear façade was often a opistode - a room for storing donations and temple utensils.

Temple in Antah: description

The first temples represented an altar in the form of a statue of a deity, which was set in the middle of a green grove. Later there are more serious buildings resembling dwellings. The material is wood, then stone and clay.

The temple in Antah is an example of the architectural structure of the early archaic period. The ancient Greeks represent the temple as a divine house, and hence build it like a dwelling. The technique and skill of the builders were considerably inferior to the earlier Creto-Mycenaean culture. The temple in the antahs was built from raw (unbaked bricks) and clay.

In terms of construction, the building resembled a megaron - the most ancient type of Greek housing, which existed already in the third millennium BC. After the altar, the temple in Antah was the simplest type of religious buildings. It consisted of cella, and an entrance portico of two columns.

Antes or ant - are lateral projections, which are an extension of the longitudinal walls of the building. They frame the columns and support the cornices resting on them.

Treasury of Athens in Delphi

Distil is one of the oldest types of Greek temples. Of the most of them, only the foundation has now survived. The most famous temple in Antah (see photo below) is in Delphi. This is the treasury of Athens, discovered in the XX century.

According to the findings of the researchers, the temple was built at the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries BC during the Athenian hegemony. The main "message" that the building carries in it is an exaltation of the democratic system and its victory over the power of tyrants. According to another version, based on the descriptions of Pausanias, the treasury was erected as a token of victory over the Persians after the decisive Marathon battle.

The temple in Antah, located in Delphi, was preserved only partially, but enough to determine its appearance. Elements of the frieze, left from it, are stored in the Delphic Archaeological Museum. And in place of the discovery of the treasury a copy of plaster is placed.

Ancient temple in Russia

Relatively recently, the remnants of the ancient temple in Antes were discovered in Russia. The sanctuary was found near the modern village of Senna. Archaeological excavations in this place have been held since 1936, but the temple itself was found only in 2013.

At the time of Ancient Greece, one of the colonies, Phanagoria, was located here. On the site of the city already found the remains of the sanctuary of Aphrodite in the form of marble pedestals of marble statues, as well as mounds of the ancient necropolis.

The recently found temple was located within the upper city - the acropolis. It was quite small and covered an area of 12 square meters. The building is a typical temple in the antah with two columns, the Naos (central room) and the pronaos (annex near the entrance). This is the oldest ancient temple on the territory of Russia. It was built around the 5th century BC, but the mystery of which deity he is dedicated to remains a mystery.

The meaning of the temples

Ancient Greek temples, as a rule, were located on a hill in the upper part of the polis. They were within the acropolis, the central figure of which was the temple of the main god or goddess. In Athens, for example, such a building was the Parthenon.

Buildings had a clear location and always oriented to the east. Religious rites and celebrations were held in front of the church. Inside it was allowed only to enter the priest. Residents of the city could set a maximum on the territory of the pronaos.

The temple in ancient Greece was not just a building. He was the center of public life and a meeting place. In case of attack on the policy, it served as a refuge for the residents. In addition, he was a kind of bank - in the opistodom of the main temple kept the city treasury.